Gay ian thorpe

Five-time Olympic swimming gold medalist Ian Thorpe for the first time publicly confirmed that he is gay during a television interview on Sunday, ending years of speculation about his sexuality. Just as he has inspired a generation of young swimmers to go swifter, higher, stronger so will his openness inspire other young people to work towards an authentic self.

Surely, he, of all people, should have felt the Australian people would forgive him this one thing. Thorpe said he was not gay that day, opening up about the incident now decades later in an article for the Daily Telegraph and saying that he didn’t want news of him being gay to be any kind. Five-time Olympic swimming gold medalist Ian Thorpe for the first time publicly confirmed that he is gay during a television interview on Sunday, ending years of speculation about his sexuality.

Ian Thorpe was 16 when he was first asked outright if he was gay. Hundreds of young people will relate to his story and draw on it to shape their own destinies. But this is also the most extraordinary of stories because Ian Thorpe offered the Australian public so much, in the highly revered area of sporting accomplishment.

Ian Thorpe was 16 when he was first asked outright if he was gay. For two years before that, the teenager endured speculation about his sexuality as he propelled towards Aussie Olympic greatness.

In two recent surveyshigh levels of depression and suicide ideation were found to be part of the history of gay people of all ages and very much related to their shared history of everyday abuse and violence. Ian Thorpe coming out as gay during an interview with Michael Parkinson last night was both the most ordinary of stories and the most extraordinary. Research shows harsh and neglectful school environmentswhere homophobic abuse flourishes and large numbers of same-sex attracted young people experience anxiety, depression and suicide ideation.

Move all this into the hyper-masculine sporting arena and no wonder Ian Thorpe felt part of his essential self had to be hidden to ensure his safety, perhaps even annihilated to prevent public disgrace. And it was extraordinary because Thorpe felt he was unable to come out earlier despite his high profile. The Olympian, 41, who came out inrevealed he kept his sexuality hidden because he didn't want any 'distractions' from the sport in the early s.

It also showed how deeply homophobia is ingrained in Australian society. Nothing will land in the trophy room to recognise this achievement, but lives will be saved. Ian Thorpe endured speculation about his sexuality from the age of On the eve of Qtopia Sydney opening, the Olympic great details his coming out experience. The now-openly gay star endured speculation about his sexuality for years, before officially coming out during a TV interview with UK talk show host Michael Parkinson in A ustralian swimmer and five-time Olympic gold medalist Ian Thorpe announced he was gay this weekend after years of denials, in a tell-interview that aired in Australia Sunday gay ian thorpe.

By coming out, Thorpe has given more of himself as a gift to the Australian public, and shown leadership he was afraid to embrace in the past. Thorpe can be forgiven for not reading such remarks any differently. Ian Thorpe endured speculation about his sexuality from the age of On the eve of Qtopia Sydney opening, the Olympic great details his coming out experience.

The depression and despair so powerfully described by Thorpe prevents young people from reaching out for help, out of fear of losing their attachment to family and friends, which they feel may be conditional on ignorance about their sexuality. Social media has thrown closeted young people a lifeline that puts them in touch anonymously with others having, and working through similar doubts and fears.

But these initiatives are fragile and under constant attack. Thorpe said he was not gay that day, opening up about the incident now decades later in an article for the Daily Telegraph and saying that he didn’t want news of him being gay to be any kind. It was ordinary because, over the last 20 years, my colleagues and I have documented stories just like it.

A ustralian swimmer and five-time Olympic gold medalist Ian Thorpe announced he was gay this weekend after years of denials, in a tell-interview that aired in Australia Sunday night. Gay men, in particular, are exposed to violence and the messages that accompany it as part of a rigorous policing of masculinity that begins in schools and may continue throughout their lives. She has a grant from beyondblue. In fact, suicide contemplation rises in exact proportion to the amount of abuse suffered.

Government funded anti-homophobia programs in schools are having a demonstrable impact on the mental health of young people who are not straight. Do openly gay public figures like Ian Thorpe matter? And it will be step towards Australia becoming a nation where that matters. He would have been under no illusion that the constant media badgering for confirmation of his sexuality would not have been to celebrate it, but rather to create a scandal.

Ian Thorpe was 16 when he was first asked outright if he was gay.